Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Gardener Langbie (1)
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That massive bulk charging at me recklessly—if I take a bad hit, my ribs will snap right away. But the Gardener Langbie doesn't look like a man skilled in combat.
The punches he thrusts out are just like a child throwing a tantrum. If you don't get scared, dodging them isn't that hard.
That doesn't mean I can let my guard down. The moment Langbie's fist even accidentally clips one of the stone pillars in the garden—
Kwa-gak!
A chilling sound rings out as the stone shatters into pieces. It's absurd destructive power.
"I'll kill youuuu!"
Langbie keeps charging at me. But every time that huge body moves, a ragged breath bursts from his mouth.
"Hoo—ha..."
One solid hit from a punch swung with all his might would definitely kill me. But when you put that much force into a strike, gaps inevitably open up between the motions.
The Gardener Langbie can't dodge my follow-up strikes. Thanks to his massive frame, even glancing blows draw dark red blood streaming from him.
Slash!
But my strikes don't deal much damage to him. His health pool is so ridiculously huge, I wonder if the settings are glitched.
Hitting him once with the longsword barely changes his health bar. It only dips by a tiny sliver. Generously speaking, maybe 1% at best.
That means I'd have to hit him 100 times with the longsword to kill him.
I've thought this before, but the bosses' health bars are way too brutal. Maybe this game world was designed from the start assuming multiplayer.
Looking back...
Veronine and Belmont...
All of them were bosses too tough to solo.
Whatever. Just think of it like they've installed a mod that multiplies boss health by 4 or 5 times.
Slash!
"Groooargh!"
Every time the longsword hits, Langbie shrieks and thrashes wildly, tearing up his own garden.
And as if that's not enough...
"Uh... uugh..."
Seeing the garden turned into a total mess from our fight, he grimaces and flies into a rage.
"You trash... you filthy bastard...!"
He's definitely not right in the head. He rampages to tear me apart somehow, but every time the flowers get damaged, he vents his fury with screams.
"My flowers! The flowers! Because of scum like you Mortals!"
His emotions swing wildly in ways I can't comprehend. But even as he bellows like that, my longsword relentlessly strikes him.
"Die! Die die die!"
Boom! Kwaang!
Dirt, grass, and flowers explode into the air right in front of me. Every time he slams the ground, the entire garden shakes like an earthquake.
But none of those attacks even graze me. The bigger his swings, the more precisely and relentlessly my longsword carves into the gardener's rough muscles.
Of course, given his enormous build, the wounds from my longsword probably look like mere scratches.
"How dare you think this place is safe! You outsider scum, defiling the lady's garden!"
The gardener talks a lot. It's refreshing to face a boss who can hold a conversation after so long, but seeing those agonizing flowers he made himself boils something inside me.
This place is too cruel.
I don't know when this tragedy began, but as I roll around the gardener's vicinity, thrusting my sword into him, I can't help thinking this might be my responsibility.
I have to finish him off. Give those flowers—and the gardener himself—a merciful death.
No guilt over killing. That one female player I met before the monastery called me a murderer, but isn't passively watching this world the real sin?
If you've booted up the game, you have to carve through all this yourself. That's a player's duty.
Pook!
This time, I grip the rapier and stab Langbie. A long, sharp pain digs into his thigh, far thicker than an elephant's.
"Kraaagh!"
He lets out a hideous screech. Moisture even gathers in the corners of those wretched eyes.
Even so, every time he takes a hit, he glares at me with murderous intent and charges. His tenacity might be top-tier among all the bosses I've faced.
"I am Langbie! I won't die to the likes of you!"
This boss fight isn't just spraying blood—sticky saliva flies everywhere too.
I don't know what he's so aggrieved about, but the Gardener Langbie thrashes desperately to kill me somehow.
But he can never beat me.
Because the moment I roll around and reach the center of the garden...
"Aaaagh! No!"
Langbie comes thundering over with that heavy body, flops down, and cradles the most beautifully bloomed rose with his bulk.
A gimmick boss, huh. He'll go to any lengths—even taking hits himself—to protect that rose.
That just gives me a golden opportunity. I set aside the rapier and longsword, draw the greatsword for maximum impact, and...
Whoosh!
Swing with all my strength.
Harder and faster than usual, for sure, and precisely.
Crunch! Cruuunch!
"Kraaaaagh!"
Hitting him with the greatsword deals solid damage. Health that barely budged 1% from the longsword plummets 2% or 3% at a time.
Of course, wailing on a boss who's down protecting a flower feels a bit sorry, but he handed me the opening himself—I can't ignore that.
Kwa-dud! Woo-drud! Ku-dud!
Still, I can't help the emotion loading into my greatsword swings.
Every time I see those red things screaming while alive as flowers, my head clears coldly. All I can think is that I have to kill the gardener right here, somehow.
"Kuhk... kgh..."
Now Langbie fights clutching that beautiful flower in his hand. He seems worried I'll snatch it—too bad I couldn't care less about it.
I just beat the crap out of him. Whirl the greatsword like a blender, then when he gets up and regains his senses, poke him slyly from afar with the rapier, and once that's set, grip the longsword properly and...
Slash!
Stack damage on his legs.
Nothing hurts more than hitting the same spot twice. Plus, those sturdy legs are already strained bearing his massive weight, so every weapon hit amplifies the agony.
Even that intimidating bulk is just a hitbox to me. No matter how he swings, he can't dodge my attacks.
"Aaaargh!"
The Gardener Langbie finally drops to his knees before me. He's groggy now.
60% health left. His weakness glows gold in my eyes.
His face, which I'd never reach normally.
But with him kneeling, our eye levels match, so...
I grip the greatsword, spin it from afar to build momentum and rotation...!
Whoosh—
Kwajik!
And smash it straight into his nose bridge.
"Kwaaaaaagh!"
His face splits nearly in half. That vivid gash is striking.
The gardener can't hold back the erupting scream, clutches his face, and thrashes on the ground.
Even so, one hand still grips the rose.
A single bloom of beauty that doesn't suit this ugly, filthy, cruel man at all...
"Hic, kuhic..."
The gardener hugs the rose to his chest.
"Milady..."
He's been calling for "milady" nonstop—what could that mean?
But as he slowly lifts that rose, a deep, vivid fragrance spreads.
A supremely beautiful and alluring scent that envelops the entire garden, filled only with blood, pain, and death.
"Milady, give me strength..."
Langbie cries out to the sky, tears streaming.
Or is it to the rose?
Is that the milady?
"Milady, I'll protect you somehow. Even if this body rots under a curse."
The Gardener Langbie slowly brings his face to the rose. But not too close.
He won't let his ugly mug defile it. Even as he does, he quietly sobs, savoring the scent brushing his nose.
"Milady."
But the mood shifts more and more.
I instantly recognize this as the start of phase 2, grip my greatsword again, and charge in to whale on him.
Whoooosh—
Kwa-dud!
Langbie takes my attacks without even screaming. His eyes don't look at me.
Only the rose.
"Milady."
His health is steadily dropping. Blood even pours like waterfalls from the spots my greatsword hit.
"Milady."
Yet the Gardener Langbie forces himself back up on both legs, overcoming his own weight.
And his bulk even starts growing larger. His already grotesquely swollen body now truly...
Becomes gigantic...
"...Milady."
"Hiiik! Hik!"
Doren whimpers in terror from behind me, kicking up a fuss.
"M-Milady! Please forgive me! Forgive this Doren, please!"
Langbie's hand rises higher and higher.
The rose atop it sparkles in the sunlight.
"Milady..."
Langbie finally places the rose atop the castle spire and...
"...Executioner."
looks down at me and speaks.
"I can't die. Not even for milady—I absolutely can't die. Not until this garden is full of roses."
Phase 2 begins.
"Give milady back. You and that Doren too... Become flowers in her place. Become flowers for milady."